Yumi's Daughter
by Witchgar
Summary: Title somehow says it all. I could put more here but it would spoil the story.


Fukuzawa Yuuki saw the chocolate cake as he perused the food line of the hospital's cafeteria. He placed it onto his tray intending to give it to his sister Yumi, who just suffered through twenty-six hours of labor and gave birth to a beautiful, baby daughter. _'She deserves a little treat. She worked hard to bring my little neice into the world. Mom and Dad would have been proud of her,'_ he said to himself, feeling the same pride at his sister's accomplishment. Not for the first time, he regretted the fact that their parents were no longer there and cursed the airplane crash that took them away four years ago.

He picked up some items for his meal, walked to the cashier, and paid. He looked around the stark white eating area to see if he could find a table. He figured he should best eat now while his sister was sleeping. He sat down, feeling very tired since he had been up the entire time, coaching and keeping his sister focused on the birthing. He let out a sigh as he remembered the day Yumi told him of her pregnancy and asked him to be her birthing coach.

**** Flashback ****

"You're what?!" The young man asked his sister incredulously.

"I'm pregnant, Yuuki," the brown haired girl replied calmly.

Yuuki shook his head in disbelief. "So who's the father?" He inquired, a hint of anger coloring his tone.

Yumi shook her head. "That's between me and him," she refused. "Plus, it doesn't matter anyway since he will not be a part of the child's life."

"Even so, he should still take responsibility for his actions. It is only right," the young man said in disgust. He was angry that a man would do this to a girl and not own up to it.

"Right, wrong, or indifferent, it is what it is," Yumi sighed. "What matters most is how I go on from here."

"So you plan on doing this alone." Yuuki sighed, resigning himself to the situation.

"No, " Yumi responded. "That's why I am here. I would like to ask for your support. You and Alice are the only people I can trust to do right by me and the baby."

The young man could do nothing but nod. He was well aware of his sister's history, as well as the reason she found it hard to trust people, even those closest to her. Deep down Yuuki wished that Yumi would forget about it all and finally see that not everyone was out to get her. He moved next to his sister and enveloped her in a comforting hug, which Yumi melted into. "Of course, sister dear, I could do no less." He pressed his lips to the young girl's head and patted her back soothingly.

**** End Flashback ****

The next seven months went by in a whirlwind of frenetic activity. He felt blessed to have a such good friend in Arisugawa Kintarou, and was glad that he and Yumi let her move in after her family disowned her. After graduation from Handera, Alice accepted and embraced her gender identity issues and finally started along the path to become the girl she always knew lived deep inside her. If it wasn't for Alice's help during Yumi's pregnancy, the young man felt that he wouldn't have survived.

Alice was so patient and caring, that she became the support he needed to be strong for his sister. Yuuki felt bad that Alice was at work and unable to be here to see the fruit of her labors. He smiled inwardly at the thought of his friend fussing over them and their new addition. He also felt guilty that he couldn't do more for his friend. He knew deep down how Alice felt about him, and she was a very lovely girl, but Yuuki's mind couldn't make the final connection that would allow him to be with her. That being said, he knew that Alice would always be his friend and he could rely on her completely.

He let out a heavy sigh after he finished the dregs of his coffee and set the cup down on the tray. He stood up and disposed of his garbage before heading back up to the room to give his sister her special treat.

XxX

Ogasawara Sachiko strode into her office located on the top floor of the Ogasawara Building. Her secretary Shouko handed Sachiko a cup of coffee and a newspaper as she young businesswoman glanced down at the paper. "You have a nine o'clock meeting with the Research and Development Department and …." The sound of a breaking cup interrupted Shouko's recitation. She looked up from her calendar to see a white faced Sachiko staring at the paper. "Ma'am, are you alright?"

The heiress looked at her aide. "Yes Shouko, I'm fine," Sachiko replied as she headed to her private office. "Please get this cleaned up, and cancel all my meetings today."

"Yes Ma'am."

Sachiko closed and locked her door and sat at her desk with the paper, staring at the article that affected her so:

 _ **Young Woman Hit by Car. Driver Flees.**_

 _ **A hit and run driver mowed down Fukuzawa Yumi, a 25-year-old woman as she crossed a Shinjuku street Tuesday at 2:30 pm — crushing her, officials and horrified witnesses said. Surveillance video shows that the woman was in the driver's view for several seconds before he hit her. The large black sedan drove off after the accident. Fukuzawa was pronounced dead on arrival when she arrived at Tokyo General Hospital. No further information is available about the driver. If anyone has any information about this occurance, they are asked to contact the Metropolitan Police.**_

The heiress sobbed as she stared at the face-shot accompanying the article. "Oh, Yumi," she breathed as she leaned back in her chair and wept.

XxX

If he knew four weeks ago what he would be doing today, he would have kept a closer eye on his sister during that time. _'They say hindsight is 20/20,'_ he thought as he looked into the mirror and tried to do up his tie for the fifth time. He let out a loud groan of frustration when for the sixth time the back of the tie ended up longer than the front. He felt a soothing hand on his shoulder.

"Turn around, and let me take care of that for you," Alice said, as she gently turned Yuuki around before she started to work with the offending strip of cloth. When she was done, she fixed his collar and smoothed out the lapels of his suit jacket, running her hands down Yuuki's chest as she did so. "You sure do clean up nice, Yuuki," she joked, but the humor fell flat, as Yuuki looked on the red rimmed eyes of his best friend.

The young man tried to smile, but his heart wasn't in it. "I wish you could come with me, Alice," Yuuki told the girl in front of him. "You and Yumi were so close. It seems wrong to have you stay home with Yumiko."

"Yumi would understand. It was her wish as well," Alice explained. "She knew what would happen if any of _that_ crowd knew of our little treasure, and she didn't want her daughter to grow up to be like them. I owe her so much, she was the first person to accept me for what I am, even if we did have a rocky first meeting..." The young girl lost her composure and started weeping. Yuuki took Alice in his arms and held her as she cried. When it calmed down to a sniffle she apologized. "I'm sorry."

Yuuki tightened his arms around her, comfortingly. "It's all right, Alice. We are both hurting and we can helps each other get through this." He felt her arms tighten around him also. It felt good. For the first time that week, he felt at peace, like everything was going to turn out OK.

"You should really get going," Alice told him as she let Yuuki go. "We'll be fine here, and I will pay my respects to her in my own way." The two gave each other a sad look before Yuuki turned around and left the house, heading towards his sister's funerary service.

Xxx

Yuuki slammed the shot glass down on the bar, and signalled the bartender to pour him another. "Damn hypocrites, the lot of them," He exhorted to the box containing his sister's ashes sitting on the stool next to his. "'She was a good friend,' they say. Or 'I will miss her deeply.' Where were they last year when you were dealing with the crap that happened between you and Ogasawara when she was getting married." He downed the whiskey in front of him, and motioned for another, then continued on, his tirade getting louder. "And speaking of that stuck up bitch, she didn't say a thing to me. She just walked in, paid her respects, crying those crocodile tears, and then left. You think that if she really cared for you like she made it seem, she would have said something. Even a simple 'I am sorry for your loss,' would have been sufficient. I swear Yumi …"

"I am sorry for your loss."

Yuuki's venting was suddenly interrupted by a voice from behind him. He turned to see Kashewagi Suguru, his sempai from Handera standing behind him with a grave, stoic expression on his face. "Now doesn't this beat all," he said sarcastically to no one, before he started in on the new arrival. "You, especially, should have known what my sister was going through during that time. Even though she thought you were her rival, she respected you. You could have talked to her and made her understand the way things had to be." Yuuki grabbed at the lapels of the other man's jacket, and pulled his face close. "You. Could. Have. Saved. Her! You…"

The young man finally broke down and wept, letting his head fall in the other man's chest. The bigger man wrapped his arms around the younger, holding him up as he cried until Suguru felt his old friend's full weight against his body as Yuuki passed out. Suguru reached into his pocket and dropped some bills on the bar before carrying the younger man out the door and into the street.

Once he had his friend and his precious package settled into a taxi, paying the driver extra to make sure Yuuki got home and into the house safely, he walked to his red spots car, and got in. He rested his head in his hands, letting his tears fall. "It's not like I didn't try, my friend," He replied, answering his old friends last statement.

XxX

" _Mom and Dad never raised us to be so rude, Yuuki," a woman's voice waking him up._

" _Yumi!" He exclaimed sitting up on the bed he lay on. The young man looked around the room he was in. Everything was stark white except the headboard on the bed and next to it the chair he saw his sister sitting in. "I must be dreaming."_

 _Yumi chuckled. "Maybe you are and maybe you aren't, I can't say either way. You still were very rude earlier."_

" _But after how they treated you," the young man argued. "They deserved it."_

" _Even so. Such pettiness does you no credit, and makes you no better than they are," the young woman scolded her brother. "And Kashewagi-san has been nothing but a friend to both of us. You had no right to dishonor him that way."_

" _Oh please. Don't give me that," Yuuki argued. "It's because of all this crap, you killed yourself."_

" _Fukazawa Yuuki, how could you think that," Yumi ranted. "I may have been sad and depressed, but how do you get off thinking I committed suicide. No matter what I felt, I still had Yumiko to think about. I would never ..."_

" _Then what happened," the young man asked._

 _Yumi took a second to collect her thoughts then spoke. "I was leaving the lawyer's office and about to cross the street. I can't remember anything else after that._

" _Lawyers. Why?"_

" _You'll find out soon enough," the young woman answered. "But we haven't much time and there is something else we need to talk about. Alice."_

" _What about her?"_

" _She's really good for you," Yumi responded. "You need her, and she needs you."_

" _But," Yuuki interrupted._

 _Yumi held up her hand to silence her brother. "Answer me one thing then. Deep down, do you see Alice as a man or a woman?"_

" _A woman," the young man answered without thinking._

" _Then what's the problem," Yumi continued. "Alice is a woman. Heart. Mind. And soul. It doesn't matter how the plumbing goes. She is a woman. In fact I would wager she is more of a woman than those that were born that way. And that woman cares deeply for you."_

 _Yuuki shook his head in disbelief. "How would you know that, Yumi." He asked._

" _You should know by now that girls talk," His sister said, giggling as she faded from view and he fell back asleep._

XxX

Yuuki groaned as he tried to open his eyes. He tried again a little slower and succeeded. The pounding inside his head abated as he looked upon the most beautiful sight. Alice, holding little Yumiko in her arms, smiling down at him. It may have been the sunlight filtering through the window behind the woman, but she looked angelic. His breath caught in his throat, and he was barely able to address her. "Alice?"

"So the dead have finally returned to life," the young woman said with a musical laugh.

Yuuki couldn't help but smile himself. "You have no idea," he said.

"What do you mean by that," Alice inquired.

Yuuki shook his head. "Never mind," he responded, then he sat up quickly, remembering something. "Yumi!" He exclaimed as he tried to get out of bed.

Alice placed a hand on his chest to slow him down. "She's fine. I put her ashes in the family altar, next to the picture of your parents. Yuuki gave a sigh of relief when he heard that. He didn't know what had happened after he passed out. The young woman continued, "I was quite surprised you remembered, seeing the condition you came in here last night."

"Kashewagi," Yuuki said under his breath, feeling a bit chagrined..

"What was that?" Alice questioned.

"I saw Kashewagi last night at the bar. He must have made sure I made it home after I passed out."

Alice turned around and made to leave. "I should call him and thank him for taking care of you," she stated.

Yuuki reached for her, grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward him. "Later," he told her. "I have something I want to tell you, and I need you let me finish. I dreamt of Yumi last night, and she explained some things to me." He told Alice about the first portion of his conversation with his sister. When he was done, he looked straight at the young woman. "Yumi also told me something else, which leads me to ask this question. I want you to answer it truthfully. Do you have romantic feelings toward me?"

Alice tensed, not knowing how she should answer the question. If she told the truth, she could lose him, and if she lied and said she only felt friendship for him, then nothing would ever change between them. She felt caught between a rock and a hard place. She was saved when the baby in her arms started crying. "I should go take care of Yumiko," she said, as she bolted from the room.

Alice took the baby to the room they were using as a nursery, and placed her on the changing table. As she was changing the baby's diaper, she started talking to the room around her. "What should I do, Yumi. Being here with both of you and being accepted by the both of you has been a dream come true. I can truly be who I want to be. You know I never meant to fall for him. I told you that. He's so kind and caring, how can anyone not fall in love with him. But why would he want to be with someone like me." She finished taping the diaper down, and was ready to pick the little baby up off the table when she felt two strong arms around her, slowly turning her around.

"How could I not," Yuuki said simply, eyes full of adoration.

"But, I'm not truly a woman," Alice stated sadly, her eyes starting to tear up. "Why would you…"

"Shhhhh," Yuuki silenced her with a soft kiss on the lips. "Yumi told me last night that you are a woman in all that matters, heart, mind, and soul. Never doubt that." He leaned in and kissed her a little longer this time, thinking of his feelings for her.

She pushed the young man away, and stared into his eyes. "But we can't … I can't even give you a child," she despaired.

Yuuki pushed past Alice and picked up the child that lay on the table. "We have one already," he stated firmly. "Right, Yumiko?"

XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX

Author's notes: Just a little plot bunny that came to mind. I do have a couple ideas as where this can go. I am just not sure which idea to go with. Either way, it will pick up when Yumiko is a teeanger. But this story can also stand on it's own, as is, so I am posting it to see what the reaction will be. Please review people. And thanks for being here so I can be here. - Witch


End file.
